Airborne

1. task:

Read the following text and highlight the new words.
Look up the new words in a dictionary and write them out in your vocabulary list.
When you have finished, you can discuss the text with a partner and watch the video below the text.

Planes in strong wind

Planes had to land in extreme wind in Spain. Some pilots were successful, some weren’t.

As you can see in the video, the wind was so strong that even some big planes had big problems with landing. The situation was scary for both the pilots and passengers. The pilots had to do their best to get the planes to the ground.

The speed of the wind was 65 kilometres per hour at the airport in Bilbao. The airport wasn’t closed and all planes could try to land. Some of them managed it with difficulties. Four planes couldn’t do it and they had to land at another airport.

None of the flights were cancelled.

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckLGV55mBrE

 

2. task:

Complete all the exercises from the rubric "airports/airplanes". Correct your answers by clicking on the button "correct answers" on the bottom of the page.

To get to the exercises follow this link:
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/travelenglish/index.html

 

3. task:

Watch the video and then read through the transcript. Look up the words you don't know yet.

When you have finished try to do the three exercises following this link:
http://www.english-online.org.uk/begvideocourse/begvideo19.htm

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGSBxc9Ge5o

At the airport

Tara is going to visit her friend in Germany. To get there from England she has to take a flight in an aeroplane. So now she is at the airport. The first thing she did when she got there was to leave her car at the long-term car park. This is a special car park where travellers can leave their cars for over a week.

Now she has gone to the part of the airport where she will start her flight. This is the passenger terminal. The part of the terminal she is looking for is called 'departures'. The other part of the terminal is 'arrivals' and this deals with travellers whose flight has just brought them to the airport.

Once she gets to Departures, Tara takes a quick look at the flight announcements. Good, her flight is still on time, and there are no delays. Because she wants to have plenty of time before her flight, Tara goes straight to the check-in desk. She is very early so there is no queue. At the desk she shows the ticket for her flight, and hands over her suitcase. The baggage allowance for her flight is just 25kg, so Tara has been careful not to pack too much. If her suitcase were too heavy, Tara would have to pay an excess baggage fee.

Now her suitcase is taken away to be carried in the plane's cargo. Tara has marked a big cross on her suitcase, so she will be able to recognize it easily when it arrives on the luggage carousel for her to collect at Munich airport. After she has checked in, Tara is given a boarding pass, which will allow her on to the aeroplane.

Now Tara has to go through security and emigration. She checks the regulations, and makes sure that she has no dangerous objects such as liquid or aerosols in the bag which she will be taking on to the aeroplane as 'carry-on baggage'. She also checks again that she has her passport to show at emigration.

Once she has gone through security she passes through a scanner to make sure she has no metal objects in her pockets. Her bag goes through a special x-ray machine which checks that too.

Now she is in the flight-side part of the airport. If there is anything she has forgotten on the public side, it is too late now! But Tara thinks she has remembered everything. She checks the flight announcements to see at what gate she will find her plane. Because her gate is on the other side of the airport she has to take a shuttle train. Fortunately it is not crowded.

Tara knows that she might have to wait for a while in the departure lounge next to the gate before she boards the aeroplane, so she decides to have something to drink while she is waiting. Then when she hears the announcement that her flight is boarding, she hands in her boarding pass to the flight attendant, and walks down to the runway where her plane is waiting.

Have a good flight Tara.

4. task:

Listen to the podcast below.

Link to podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeGjkL_bA4

Now try to do the following exercises on the podcast.
Compare your answers with the solution in the last picture.

 

 

5. task: Optional (for fast students)

Write a short review on the video you've seen at the beginning of this webquest (150-200 words)